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The Hungry Sea
Fleeing temperatures plunging to 125 degrees below zero, the Robinsons have abandoned the crashed Jupiter 2 spacecraft and fled south in their planetary roving vehicle, the Chariot. Dr. Smith refuses to accompany the family and Major West, and remains behind with the robot at the Jupiter. Traveling south in the Chariot, the Robinson's confront another peril of their new planetary home; an electrical storm of un-earthly ferocity. They seek shelter in a cave which they discover contains the ruins of a long-abandoned alien city. While exploring the ruins, Will, Penny, Don, and Judy become trapped in a stone chamber, as a planet-quake threatens to bring heavy stones crashing down upon them. John Robinson rescues them by cutting through a heavy stone wall with his laser gun. Soon the group is on the move again in the Chariot. Meanwhile, back at the Jupiter 2, Dr. Smith attempts to keep warm with only the robot for company. Smith assumes that the Robinsons have by now met some terrible fate, and speaks of preparing a eulogy for the family. The robot consults a tracking system and discovers that the Chariot is still in motion traveling southward. Smith is disappointed that he has lost the opportunity to deliver a beautiful eulogy. As they continue their southward trek, the Robinsons discover that they must cross a frozen sea of solid ice in the Chariot. Temperatures at the Jupiter 2 continue to plummet, and Dr. Smith begins to fear freezing to death. Faced with the robot's social limitations he begins to crave human companionship. Towards morning, the Robinson's complete their crossing of the ice sea. Strangely, the sun rises several hours early and the temperatures, having reached more than 100 degrees below zero, is no longer falling. Back at the Jupiter 2, Smith is relieved by this turn of events, and seeks an answer by having the robot analyze data on the orbit of their planet. At first, Smith disbelieves the robot's results. As he begins to accept them, he gleefully realizes that the Robinsons are doomed. He orders the robot to delete his earlier command to kill members of the Robinson family when he finds them alone, as the command is no longer needed. Smith suffers from his social isolation, and eventually has a change of heart. He decides to warn the Robinsons by radio. Don mistrusts Smith, and ends the transmission before Smith can deliver his warning. Stymied in his attempt to warn the Robinsons by radio, Smith sends the robot south to deliver his warning. When the Robinsons make camp for the night, the robot approaches. Fearing that Smith is up to no good, Don immediately shoots the robot with his laser gun, deactivating it. John Robinson is puzzled by the warming temperatures and seeks an answer in a data tape extracted from the inert robot. The tape shows that the orbit of the planet is a flattened ellipse, with one axis close to the sun. He realizes that the planet will soon pass very close to the sun and that the family must seek shelter from the intense heat of this event. Don is skeptical of any data that comes from Smith and quarrels with John. Eventually, as temperatures skyrocket, the sun shelter is erected over the chariot. The family seeks additional shelter under reflective blankets as temperatures rise so high that the surrounding vegetation spontaneously bursts into flame. After their broiling hot ordeal, the Robinsons, drenched in sweat, slowly emerge from their blankets. John offers each of them a cup of water, warning the children to drink slowly and not to gulp. Now understanding the thermal cycle of the planet, John realizes that the best shelter for the family is the Jupiter 2. The Chariot heads homeward. The sea of ice that the Robinsons crossed just a few days ago, is now once more a sea of water. The Chariot is capable of functioning as a boat, and the party sets out to cross the inland sea. While at sea, a violent storm erupts and the Chariot's motors fail. Don ventures onto the top of the Chariot to fix a power system as the non-functional vehicle is being swept towards a whirlpool. Don is apparently swept away, and Judy panics. In fact, Don is clinging to the side of the vehicle and is eventually pulled back inside. The storm ended, the Robinsons press on and reach landfall. Approaching home, the family stops along the way to offer a prayer of gratitude for their survival. The travelers return to the ship and are reunited with Dr. Smith. One night, Will is at the radio sending out a homing signal. He discovers that a ship or missile of some sort is homing in on them. Smith fears alien invaders. What is this mysterious object? Tune in next week, same time, same channel... Background Information *The last segments of the original pilot, No Place to Hide are used here. Don disassembling the Robot explains the Robot's absence in the chariot ride back north, and the pilot episode's southward crossing of the sea in liquid form becomes the northward crossing for the return home, while the lush vegetation "of the tropics" becomes the renewed vegetation after they cross the sea on the way home. The Robinsons still stop for prayer, but the pilot episode's image of two aliens is not used. *This is the first episode to show conflict between John Robinson and Don West. *The Robot demonstrates the ability to play the guitar while Smith sings "There's No Place Like Home". *Smith cancels his previous orders to the Robot to kill the Robinsons off in this episode. *The "Robinson alive? Impossible!" line from Dr. Smith is re-used footage from Island in the Sky. When this line is spoken, Dr. Smith is back in the coveralls he was wearing in that episode. *An extreme elliptical orbit alone could not explain the seasonal variations seen in this episode. Presuming the freezing cold takes place at aphelion and the burning heat takes place at perihelion, the timespan indicated in the script for the planet to go between these extreme points in its orbit is only a few days, which means the whole cycle will repeat itself rapidly. Axial precession could be ruled out as the planet's has two good sized moons which tend to reduce this effect. The planet must be in some wild oscillatory orbit about its sun. This might lead to variations in the sun's gravity pulling on the planet's surface, in turn cracking the crust. This would explain why Mr. Nerim overestimates the amount of explosive to use in 'Blast off into Space'. *Near the end of the episode, Major West appears to fall off The Chariot into the sea. And the Robinsons react with sorrow. But, all they had to do was look through the windows of The Chariot to see him hanging on to the ladder rung. *Dr. Smith sends The Robot after the Robinsons after the temperature has risen above freezing, but when the Robot crosses the inland sea, it is still completely frozen. This discrepancy is small when compared to the rate at which the ice on the sea melts. Ice takes 80 calories of heat to melt one gram and has a relatively high albedo so that sunlight reflects off it. Volcanic activity - possibly related to the ground quakes - releasing heat into the water would be more effective in melting the water on the timescale given. Next: Welcome Stranger Category:Episodes Category:Episodes in Season One